Paul Salomon was a successful Hamburg bank director until 1933. He achieved prosperity within the span of a few years, bought a handsome house in Hamburg-Harvestehude and was able to afford his children a carefree youth almost. In this book, his son Ernest H. Sanders (olim Helmut Salomon), who emigrated to New York in 1938, gives an account of the fate of his family in Germany. The transformation from a normal civil life to at first unacknowledged persecution, resulting in the suicide of both parents on 21st September 1941, is recounted in a subtle and moving way. In spite of these painful experiences, Sanders retained a close connection to Hamburg, his native city, as is evident in his gratitude towards his school, the Johanneum, and especially towards his classmates, who enabled him to take his school leaving examination in spite of orders to the contrary thereby laying the foundation for a future in the United States.

Uncompromising exploration of post-Holocaust memory and loss. Pat Goldman is a successful Dublin journalist planning a trip to Israel to report on the Intifada. Before she leaves, her mother tells her of a sister her parents had placed in the care of Christian friends just before she and her husband were deported to a Nazi camp. As Pat becomes involved in the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she meets Daniel, a ruthless member of the renowned Israeli secret service. He, too, is a son of Holocaust survivors. Their meeting inspires Pat to start an investigation into the history of their families' survival.